August 2023 Newsletter
Hello! Yesterday I found it. I finally found (or made) time to just be with God. Ever since being elected bishop at Synod in June, I have been looking for some time to just be with God and contemplate this calling. I finished my emails at the office and drove out to the Lowry Nature Center. It was hot so I was alone on my walk in the woods. I stopped and sat on a bench. I asked God about the whole bishop thing, was this what God really wanted? God said: It was my vote. I replied: Well then, you are going to have to help me. I explained to God that I would need help caring for people, because now there were a whole bunch more people to take care of, like every Moravian pastor in the worldwide Unity, for instance. I told God I would need help caring for all the people I was already caring for; and I listed my family, various church members, extended family. Did God understand this?
Later that day, recalling my prayer, I wondered if my prayers ever provoked a large celestial eye-roll. I imagined God on the prayer phone and the angels asking who God was talking to. God mouths: Amy. The angels look at each other and say: OHHHHH her...and roll their eyes.
I continued on my walk, satisfied with my exchange with God. I had told God what I needed. Just a few steps and an owl flew from one tree to another. It took me just a moment to find it in the trees. I thought it was a hawk until it turned its head 180 degrees and looked at me with its two round, snow monkey-like eyes, we looked at each other for some time, with me whispering: “I love you” over and over. Then it flew away.
A few more steps on the path and a deer stood a short distance from me. “J’taime” I whispered over and over. I am not sure why I thought the deer spoke French. I am sure the owl spoke English.
It was a very satisfying walk and it was topped off with evening worship at historic Zoar Moravian Church. Rev. Mike Eder led the worship by explaining the what, why, who, how and when of the Kingdom of Heaven. As Christians we are, every day, trying to pull the kingdom of Heaven down to earth. The band—two guitars, a harmonica, a string bass, a washboard and an accordion - led us through the bluegrass-tinged songs that brought tears to my eyes. My heart was over-flowing. God, ignoring the angels’ eye roll, was answering my prayers. There would be enough, more than enough Spirit to be a bishop, the church would fill me up, worship would fill me up, God’s natural world, owls and deer, would fill me up; God would help me. As they sang, “I’ll Fly Away” to close the service, I wiped my eyes dry with my dress and turned to chat with Paula Hayden and Jen Roe; Carmen Gesinger and Ann Bovy were not far away. I was surrounded by God’s helping hands. My heart was full, my heart is full. I am so grateful.